Dow Caps First 15000 Finish

The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed Tuesday to its first finish above the 15000 level, notching another landmark on the market's four-year-long record run.

Encouraging economic reports from outside the U.S. and new highs on Germany and Japan's stock markets helped send the blue-chip Dow industrials up 87.31 points, or 0.58%, to 15056.20, a new record.

The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index, meantime, added 8.46 points, or 0.52%, to 1625.96, extending its string of all-time highs, while the Nasdaq Composite added 3.66 points, or 0.11%, to 3396.63, its highest finish since November 2000.

Other closely-watched measures of the stock market also leaped to record finishes. The Dow Jones Transportation Average, an index of 20 railroad, shipping and airline stocks that is considered a gauge of business activity, soared 1.6% to a new all-time high. The Russell 2000 index of small-capitalization stocks, meantime, added 0.8% to a new record.

ENLARGE

Reuters

Dow's Push to a Record

The Dow Jones Industrial Average could close above 15000 for the first time.

The Dow Jones Industrials Average aims for closing above 15,000 today. Meanwhile, overseas stocks get a boost from Australia. Chris Dieterich has details.

Chris Dieterich looks at key stocks to watch on Tuesday, including Disney and Electronic Arts, who are teaming up to produce Star Wars videogames. Photo: Getty Images.

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The Dow's push above 15000 comes as investors' confidence in the economic recovery grows. While earnings reports have been lackluster in recent weeks, a strong report on U.S. hiring last Friday helped dispel worries about a slowdown in the economic recovery like the ones the U.S. has suffered in recent spring seasons.

At the same time, the Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan have led global central banks in flooding the market with liquidity, forcing investors into riskier assets such as stocks.

Ryan Larson, head of equity trading at RBC Global Asset Management in Chicago, said the recent aggressive action by central banks around the world has been a big part of the reason why stocks have fared so well in the U.S., Asia and Europe so far this year.

"The problems haven't been resolved, but the worries have faded," Mr. Larson said. "It does appear we're moving in the right direction. The Fed and the BOJ remain very accommodative, and that has helped provide a good backstop."

Leading the U.S. gains Tuesday were telecommunications, industrial and utilities stocks. Caterpillar,CAT0.36% an industrial giant tied to global growth, rose to lead the Dow components, while J.P. Morgan Chase and Verizon CommunicationsVZ0.26% also gained.

The broad stock advance in the U.S. came on the heels of big stock gains and economic signals from Asia and Europe.

In Australia, the Reserve Bank of Australia surprised investors by lowering its benchmark interest rate by 0.25 percentage point to a record low of 2.75%. In Japan, the Nikkei Stock Average surged 3.6% to a near five-year high, following a long holiday weekend.

In Europe, German manufacturing orders for March rose 2.2%, compared with expectations of a 0.5% decline. Germany's DAX 30 index climbed 0.7% to finish at an all-time high. The Stoxx Europe 600, meantime, gained 0.3% to its highest level since June 2008.

In the U.S., the economic calendar is relatively light. The U.S. Labor Department showed 3.8 million job openings in March. Consumer credit, meantime, increased by about $8 billion in March, well below expectations.

Crude-oil futures gave up 0.6% to $95.62 a barrel, while gold futures lost 1.3% to $1,449 an ounce. The dollar slipped against both the euro and the yen. Demand for Treasurys fell, pushing the yield on the benchmark 10-year note up to 1.783%.

Among stock movers, FossilFOSL-0.33% led the S&P 500 components, soaring 9% after the fashion-accessories retailer raised its full-year earnings estimate.

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